Afoot in Faerun

The Nelanther Isles are a widely scattered chain of nearly one thousand islands west of Amn and Tethyr in the Trackless Sea. More than half the islands lack water and are an unfit place to live. The hundreds of islands that can support life are fought over by ruthless pirates who tend to prey upon the shipping of lines Amn,Tethyr, Calimshan, the Sword Coast and the Moonshae Isles.
Skaug, the island your adventuring group is based on, is nothing more than another small pirate infested island at the northern edge of the island chain. You settled here about 10 years ago before the worst of the pirates arrived and refurbished a walled tower to the north of the island that had previously been overrun and abandoned. This now serves as your home base whilst between adventures. The Pirates attempted a few futile attempts at taking this stronghold when they first arrived but were beaten off a few times and since have almost grudgingly accepted you into their society once they realised you and your group merely wished to be left alone providing you saw nothing too upsetting.

The political vacuum of the islands would best be described as armed anarchy, as expected in an area ruled solely by pirates. Lives tend to be brutish and short, with the weak rarely surviving to reach adulthood. Racially, most of the population is Orcish, Human and a small but growing population of Half-Orcs, although pretty much other race capable of committing a crime is also present.

After breaking up a bar fight in your local, The Keelhaul Bar, you found a package of documents on the floor. These documents were addressed from on Belos Tandulkar of Baldurs Gate to an unnamed though presumably drunk and now barred mercenary to investigate a recent increase in pirate activity against Baldurs Gate’s shipping interests. The letter indicates that once this threat has been investigated and neutralised, they are to use the enclosed identification dockets and travel authorisations to travel to Baldurs Gate for debriefing and further discussion.